Sharing a bedroom with older siblings

Lots of new babies share a bedroom with older siblings. Although sharing a bedroom can make it trickier to get your baby to sleep, there are ways to work around it.

Tips for babies and older children sharing a bedroom

If you’re interested in having your baby share a bedroom with your older children, here are some ideas to help make it work:

Give yourself and your baby some time together at bedtime. You could try setting your other children up with an activity that will keep them busy, like a favourite book, game, television program or toy.

When it’s time to settle your baby, ask your older children to stay out of the bedroom for a while, or be quiet if they have to come in. Praise your older children for staying out of the room or for staying quiet in the baby’s room – for example, ‘Darah, thanks for staying out of the room while I settled the baby’.

Let your older children know that the baby might wake up during the night. But tell them that they don’t need to worry because you’ll take care of it. Older children usually sleep through babies crying.

If your baby’s crying is waking your older children, consider whether the older children could sleep in a room further away from the baby (if possible) or move the baby to your bedroom.

Where your baby sleeps is up to you. It’s safer to put your baby to sleep in her own bed, rather than in the same bed as a sibling. And the safest option is for your baby to sleep in a cot next to your bed for the first 6-12 months.

SIDS and Kids National Scientific Advisory Group (2015). Information statement: Sharing a sleep surface with a baby. Melbourne: National SIDS Council of Australia. Retrieved 31 May 2016 from http://www.sidsandkids.org/wpcontent/uploads/SIDS_SafeSleeping_A4_IS_SharingSleepSurfaceLR.pdf.